Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels
A new study published on April 3rd sends a striking messageâââlooking at data of food consumption from 195 countries, and comparing it to deaths attributable to dietary risk factors paints quite a picture. Diets high in sodium and low in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables were responsible for over 11 million deaths in 2017, as well as over 255 million years of quality life lost due to disability.
If this doesnât shock you, it should. As Iâve said beforeâââyou only have this one life, make sure you use it well.
The study analyzed 15 risk dietary risk factors using previously existing studies to determine a number of high-impact dietary behaviors that increase the chances of early mortality and years lost to disability. The top 4 risk factors for early mortality across all countries studied, in order, are:
Low whole grain consumption
High sodium intake
Low fruit consumption
Low seed and nut consumption
What About My <Diet of Choice>?
Ok, lets get this bit out of the way. Your chosen dietâââbe it keto, paleo, Atkins, Weight Watchers, whateverâââand this study might be at odds, but that doesnât mean you need to drop everything.
This study is looking at deaths and disability attributable to diet. You can safely assume that people that die from diet-related issues are eating an unhealthy diet already, and these risk factors are merely a part of it. If youâve chosen a specific style of eating, have your diet in check, and have gone to a doctor to get your blood levels and general health assessed, then youâre probably doing fine. Youâre eating at a healthy level. Could things be improved by, say, adding more whole grains? Only you can find out.
Remember that if youâve found a way to eat and have benefited from it in terms of physical health, youâre an outlier. Youâre in that upper percentile of the population that has their diet in check in a way that works for them. This study, and the takeaways from it, are population-wide and average you away as a data point.
Ok, But What About the Rest of Us?
Thatâs pretty simple: avoid the risk factors theyâve identified. Eat more whole grains, lower your sodium intake, and eat more fruit, nuts, and seeds.
This isnât something you do in addition to your white bread PB&J, itâs something you eat instead of it. Make better dietary choices focusing on those four big issues and youâll make massive strides towards improving your longevity and quality of life.
And if you want to take it further, you can also work on the other risk factors the study identifies. The following list is in rough order of how important they are:
Eat more vegetables
Get more omega-3 fatty acids from seafood
Eat more fiber
Eat more polyunsaturated fat
Eat more legumes
Eat less trans fats
Eat more calcium
Drink less sugar-sweetened beverages
Eat less processed meat
Drink more milk
Eat less red meat
Simplifying It All
Man, this is all really confusing and requires a lot of upfront work to determine the nutritional values of everything I eat! How can I manage that with my busy life?
Eating right might seem complicated, but only if you look at the science and try to make it a technical exercise. You donât need to understand it perfectly to apply the information at a practical levelâââyou know how cars work well enough to drive them, but probably very little about combustion engines and crankshafts. Treat this the same!
Eating a healthy diet is about having a practical vocabulary of things to do which benefit you the most. What are some items we can add to our vocabulary from this study?
Eat more fruits, vegetables, and fiber. That means whole fruits and vegetables, not juices or processed foods which contain fruit as one of the ingredients. You can get a lot of fiber this way.
Eat more whole grains. Food labeling in the US has gotten pretty good about indicating whole grains on packaging, but youâll probably want to avoid a lot of processed cereals and crackers if you can. Whole grain breads are a great source, but you can also look to oats (in oatmeal and granola), brown rice, whole grain pasta, and even some of the more esoteric grains like quinoa or farro.
Eat less sodium. By sticking to the two items above, youâre likely replacing processed foods with whole fruits and similar things. In doing this, you will naturally reduce your sodium intake. Sodium is often added to processed foods to improve the taste.
Eat more seeds and nuts. This one is actually a little difficult in light of the sodium issue. Seeds and nuts are often found salted in stores. Youâll want to try to buy them ârawâ or âlightly saltedâ if you can. But including a handful of nuts in a light snack is a great way to get more of these in your diet.
Eat more omega-3s and more polyunsaturated fats. Just consume more seafood! This one is easy and it has some added benefits. First, if youâre eating out and ordering fish, itâs probably replacing some red meat you were intending to order. Secondly, fish tends to be high in Vitamin D, a vitamin a lot of us are deficient in.
The summary is actually pretty simple. To paraphrase Michael Pollan âEat real food, mostly plants.â
Sign up for more posts from Everyday Fitness: